Incompetence
Robert Blackwill, the US architect of the possible Iraqi elections and a reality based hawk, resigned. People from that other reality get into position:
Colonel Gary Brandl of the United States Marine Corps commented: "The enemy has a face. It is Satan's. He is in Fallujah, and we are going to destroy him."
Falluja has been bombed for weeks, the only hospital left open has been bombed - another safehouse of Abu Musab al-Goldstein gone. People are allowed to flee, but only if they are not male and of possible fighting age. Those who stay are terrorists. Riverbend describes some of the plight.
Annan, who has worked with Blackwill, warns that an attack on Falluja will disrupt the election. Hardly ever mentioned, the planed election is for a constitution finding assembly only, not for a parliament with any influence on an Iraqi administration. With four million expatriates allowed to vote, the outcome will anyhow be most probably be defined by the people who ship the ballots around.
While Allawi declares martial law and the US concentrate their sparse forces at Falluja the resistance caravan moved on to Mosul, Ramadi and Samarra. Samarra of course is pacified since early October - these new reports must be wrong. Next to an Endlösung, what is the US military trying to achieve?
What angers me, besides the slaughtering of ten thousands and the robbing of Iraqi and US people wealth, is this unprofessional way in which the Iraq conflict is handled by the US military and the politicians.
If the military needs its line of communication between Bagdhad and Jordan opened at any price, the destruction of Falluja and Ramadi are justified. But if the US wants to stay in Iraq and control the Middle East oil flow for the next generations, the destruction of Falluja, the city of the thousand mosques, and the creation of hundred thousands of homeless refugees is just plain stupid.
To pay any price to solve a military logistic problem while jeopardizing the political goal is incompetence of the highest degree. Blackwill of course knows this, shakes his head and resigns. But incompetence is just reality - to tell the worshippers:
... to bring the Iraqis "freedom from oppression, rape, torture and murder ... We ask you God to bless us in that effort."
and to destroy Satan is the real stuff.
Posted by b on November 7, 2004 at 08:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (35)
Self-Destructive Behavior
picture by beq
Texas Sex-Ed Texts Barely Mention ContraceptivesThe board approve language saying: "Marriage is a life-long union between a husband and wife."
The board rejected a proposal from Leo asking for language saying: "homosexuals, lesbians and bisexuals as a group are more prone to self-destructive behavior like depression, illegal drug use and suicide."
Click on image to enlarge (70k)
Title: View of Mount Fuji
Artist: beq
Medium: Acrylic Canvas
Posted by b on November 6, 2004 at 12:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (40)
Just Another Open Thread
Posted by b on November 6, 2004 at 06:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (105)
Arafat
(Busy with some personal stuff, so I don´t have time to write things up. If you like to write something to post, please let me know and I'll get it up.)
Arafat is dead but kept alive until some political things are sorted out. Helena Cobban has written about him a few days ago: Arafat: a Palestinian tragedy. Ze'ev Schiff, military correspondent for Haaretz thinks that with Arafats death it is Time for an Israeli initiative.
Short of a secular one state solution, I don´t expect any initiative to bring long term peace to palestine. Any ideas how that ever might come about?
Posted by b on November 5, 2004 at 10:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (17)
Get Used to It
Dollar touches 12-year high writes ...
... the Globe and Mail. The markets are telling us what they expect from another Bush administration. Oil prices jumped up, as did the Dow Jones before losing 1/3rd of the gain. The US-Dollar Index, the international measurement of the United States' value, did tank, lifting the Canadian Dollar and other foreign currencies. Just like with the moral status of the US this is just the start of a dive – the endgame, years from now, will be the loss of the international reserve currency status the US$ has had for a long time.
Some hope for or expect a milder Bush in his second term. I see no reason for such thoughts. Just ask the ideologists what they expect from their leader.
Tom Donnelly writes in the Weekly Standard about What Next?. He speaks of "the American war in the greater Middle East" and
the Middle East war is now more clearly a long, twilight struggle to be punctuated by periods of combat, occasionally very intense. Just as Korea and Vietnam were really campaigns in the larger contest of the Cold War, so Afghanistan and Iraq are campaigns in a larger Middle East war.A clear call for further aggression: "Simply completing the job in Iraq or Afghanistan will not be enough". Note to Iran and Syria, you better get the bomb now. With Arafat dying and with a new Bush mandate, Sharon will annex or destroy the West Bank and anything else he can get away with without receiving a world wide economic embargo. And where he does not have the capacities, Bush will provide everything that's needed. A change in Syria, a new regime in Iran, access to Saudi oil - just ask and Bush will deliver.
Bill Bennett, Mr. Right Wing Morality and addicted gamer, writes in the National Review Online about The Great Relearning:
President Bush now has a mandate to affect policy that will promote a more decent society, through both politics and law. His supporters want that, and have given him a mandate in their popular and electoral votes to see to it. Now is the time to begin our long, national cultural renewal .. - no less in legislation than in federal court appointments. It is, after all, the main reason George W. Bush was reelected.This more decent society will take any undecency the progressives developed throughout the last twenty, thirty, forty years and reverse whatever is possible. It will be a mandated decency for everyone expect for those who rule and deal the cards. It’s the decency of Abu Ghraib for the homeland. Forget Roe vs. Wade, social security and other milestones - they are gone. Maybe fifty years from now, some may return.
Get used to it, or fight.
Posted by b on November 4, 2004 at 01:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (41)
Open Thread
News and views...
Posted by b on November 4, 2004 at 07:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (128)
Billmon: Four More Fears
Like usual short and precise.
Posted by b on November 3, 2004 at 10:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (67)
What's Lost?
Not the election of Kerry so far.
But it does not look good. As projected, this most probably will be decided in courtrooms (to be precise – in backrooms of courtrooms) and that is where the Republicans have the advantage.
The beacon of democracy has lost some more of the light it once had. Irrational electoral college rules, defect and uncontrollable machines, thousands of lawyers and partisan selected judges make people around the world shake their head.
What’s coming now?
Iraq is a mess and will be worse in January/February 2005. There are no good chances. A win for the US is impossible - to loose is unacceptable for the US majority - escalation is probable. The only sure thing - more people will die violently there and elsewhere. The social agenda that will be legislated during the coming four years will deepen the divide we are already seeing. The world economy is at stall speed with all signs pointing down - even with a possible end-year DOW rally - no win possible here.
Bill Fleckenstein (pay-site), a bearish but successful, fund manager commented yesterday:
I believe that in the next four years, a lot of hopes and dreams are going to be shattered, and hearts will be broken. In my opinion, the winning party this time will perhaps lose for the next couple decades. So, the silver lining may go to the losing party, as it may only have to wait four years for a chance to reign supreme for a while.
We will not be sure who is the future President of the US for some more days. But we can be sure that some damage is done - more may be coming.
It is a cold wet foggy day here. Winter is at the doorstep.
(8:53am - after a walk at the harbourside let me add) And following winter it's spring.
Posted by b on November 3, 2004 at 03:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (110)
Anything But Election Thread
Behind the media election curtain, there are other very important things happening. Some picks:
After weeks of bombing the 3231st safe house of Abu Musab Al-Goldstein, an all out attack on Falluja and Ramadi will start this week. Riverbend tells the story. While CIA asset Allawi waits for the Whitehouse call to fire the cannons, Iraqs president Yanwar shows he is reality based
The coalition's handling of this crisis is wrong. It's like someone who fired bullets at his horse's head just because a fly landed on it; the horse died and the fly went away
Preparing for the pending all out trade war with the US China, Iran sign biggest oil & gas deal. International conflicts always have an important economic background. Bin Laden's strategy of economic warfare is successful. After yesterdays drop, oil is cheap and I am buying again.
Information Clearing House has copies of the BBC documentation The Power of Nightmares online. The history of the US/AlQaida conflict 1948 to today - very interesting.
Please add your own finds in the comments.
Posted by b on November 2, 2004 at 05:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (19)
Election Thread
The best endorsement for this election is by Riverbend.
The best reason to vote is Abu Ghraib.
The best apparel for voting is a black hoodie.
The best black humor on choices is by Woody Allen:
"More than any other time in history, mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other, to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly."The best economy insight:
I was warmly embraced by our long steadfast allies, with a compassion and sincerity that deeply touched me. Their hearts were open and caring. Their home was my home.Stephen RoachThat spirit has been squandered. Americans are at odds with one another, with a deep and worrisome intensity. And the world sees us in a stark, adversarial light. The cynics say this is just politics -- that such divisiveness is the norm, especially during times of war. I beg to differ. Today, polarization is playing on the character of America -- in the end, any nation’s most precious asset. Sadly, that character is now at risk, both at home and abroad. As dawn breaks the day after tomorrow, that will be the first thing on my mind.
Posted by b on November 2, 2004 at 04:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (164)
Puppet Theater
picture by beq
Tomorrow the puppets may vote whom to hand their strings for the next four years. Or maybe it's the other way around. The puppet masters vote which puppet may stage at the Whitehouse. Then there is a third option. Electorate and candidates are puppets and the strings are pulled somewhere outside the picture.
Click on image to enlarge (180k)
Title: Midnight at the Puppet Theater
Artist: beq
Medium: Acrylic on Canvas
Posted by b on November 1, 2004 at 04:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (26)